Category: Applied and Practice

Why Family Businesses Shouldn't Always Listen to Wall Street

What Nordstrom, Mars, Dillard's, and Patagonia can teach family businesses about ownership structure. In May 2025, Nordstrom ended more than five decades as a publicly traded company. Members of the Read more

Generative AI removes many barriers to execution, putting greater pressure on founders to choose the right customers, products, and ideas. At Yale Drama School, where I trained as a costume designer, Read more

Selling the Family Business? Prepare the Family for What Comes Next

A business sale changes more than ownership. Families must also rethink governance, roles, wealth, identity, and purpose after the company is gone. A family signs the sale of the company it built Read more

Selling to a large company means finding the right champion, budget owner and technical gatekeeper — and understanding when the organization is ready to act. Every founder pitching a new technology Read more

Tickle Me Elmo, Pound Puppies and other toy hits reveal why human insight, emotion and lived experience still matter in the age of generative AI. Toy invention is a brutal business. On the worst Read more

New Zealand’s rural communities survived a brutal economic shakeup by adding value, embracing local identity and building businesses around assets they already had. Rural entrepreneurs work from a Read more

Why Every Family Business Leader Needs a Peer Group

More than 300 peer-group meetings show what happens when family business leaders have a trusted place to talk with people who truly understand their challenges. If you’ve never participated in a Read more

Build a Family Governance Talent Pipeline Before You Need One

Don’t wait for a vacancy. Prepare family members now — through education, mentoring, clear expectations, and hands-on experience — to serve on boards, family councils, and committees. Family Read more

Founder Succession: Six Lessons From 15 CEOs Who Actually Lived It

What happens after the founder steps aside? Interviews with successor CEOs reveal the emotional, organizational, and family dynamics that determine whether leadership transitions succeed—or stall. Read more

Fleet Feet Charleston shows how franchise owners can use “coopetition” — working with suppliers, rivals, franchisors and employees — to build a stronger local business ecosystem. Last in a Read more